Plaiting-board



' 1 eeeeeeeeeeeee 1. J. P. CALDWELL.

PLAITING BOARD.

No. 365,503. latented Jan. 4, 1887.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. P. CALDWELL.-

PLAITING BOARD.

No. 355,503. Patented Jan. 4,1887.

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. UNI D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. CALDWELL, OF GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA.

PLAlTlNG-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0! Letters Patent No. 355,503, dated January4, 1857.

Serial No.190,508. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN PARK CALDWELL, of Gainesville, in the county ofHalhand State of Georgia,have invented a new and Improved CombinedPlaiter and Lap Board, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relatesto the construction of a combined plaiter and lapboard, the object of the invention being to enable the operator torapidly lay off regular plaits of any desired depth, which may be eitherpressed or stitched to place after being formed; and to this end theinvention consists in the construction and. arrangement of parts, aswill be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my combined plaiter and lap board.Fig. 2 is a crosssectional view of the same, representing theretaining-frame as held up from the board. Fig. 3 is a View of one ofthe retaining-strips. Fig. A is a view of one of the plaitingknives.Fig. 5 is an edge View of the knife,,the socket being broken away todisclose the construction.

In constructing such a plaiter as is illustrated in the drawings abovereferred to I provide a board, A, one side of which I cover with asoftfabric of quilting, B, said fabric being held to the board by a metallicbindingstrip, 0, graduated metal strips D D being, however,interposedbetween the strip and the fabric, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

At either corner, upon one edge of the board, Isecure hooks E E, whileto the center of the other edge I fix a catch, F. The plaiting-framewhich I use to hold the fabric to be plaited in position upon the boardconsists of a number of strips, N N, that'are arranged to extendlongitudinally across the board, said strips being provided at each endwith sockets n it, through which one length of an elastic band, M, ispassed, and,although not absolutely necessary, I prefer to form thestrips with tubular hand-pieces m m, as shown in the drawings. Anyrequired number of these strips NN, arranged parallel with each other,

such strips being used and one end of each strip being looped to engagewith the hooks E. The other ends of the bands M are passed through loops0 0, formed on a bar, 1?, that is provided with a handle, R, the partsbeing so arranged that by grasping the handle R the bar P may be broughtinto engagement with the catch F, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

In' connection with the lap-board just described I employ aplaiting-knife, the construction of which is fully illustrated in Figs.4 and 5, wherein p and q represent the blades of the knife, which arepointed, as shown at s s, and project in parallel lines from a commonshank, S, which shank is provided with an interiorlythreaded socket, T,arranged to be engaged by a projection, T, on the handle V, the ideabeing to provide a number of different-sized plaiting-knives which mayall be used with the same handle. V

In plaiting with such an apparatus as has been described theretaining-frame is thrown back from the board and the fabric W to beplaited is placed upon the board, being held there by the frame, whichis returned to the position shown in Fig. 1. The longer blade of thep'laiting-knife is then passed between the plaiting and the board, thefabricv entering the opening 26 between the blades, thenpper blade beingfixed between the strips N and the fabare mounted on the elastic stripsM, two of ric, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The plaitingknife is thenturned over to form the plait and withdrawn, to be again inserted andturned as before, the operator being greatly assisted in the formationof the plaits by the graduations formed on each side of the board.

Various styles and widths of plaiting may be made with this device, thewidth of the plaits varying with the size of the knife employed, and thespaces between the plaits being measured by means of the graduations onthe sides of the board. Ifit is desired to press the plaiting so that itshall retain its form,'the side of the board provided with the quiltingB is turned uppermost; but if the plait-s are to be stitched to placethe opposite or uncovered side of the board A is used. I

From the construction described it will be seen that the retaining-frameformed by the strips N and elastics M may be readily reelastic fromengagement with the hooks E E,

after which disconnection the board is adapted for use as a simplelap-board.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with the board having one surface plain and theother covered with fabric, hooks on the rear corners of the board, and acatch on the front edge, of the 1ongitudinally -elastic strips removablyconnected at their rear .ends to the hooks, a cross-bar connected to thefront ends of the elastic strips and constructed to engage the catch Fwhen the elastics are swung'over either the plain or covered sides ofthe board, and strips having sockets on their ends through which theelastics pass, whereby the board may be used on .either side to allow ofthe plaited fabric being pressedor stitched, as may be desired,substantially as set forth. I

2. The combination, with the board, of longitudinally-elastic stripsconnected at their rear ends to the rear corners of the board, a

cross-bar connecting the forward ends of the elastics, a catch on thefront edge of the board adapted to engage the-bar, and the strips N,having socketson their ends through which the elastics pass, whereby, bya forward pull on the cross-bar, the elastics may be stretched to allowthe bar to engage the catch, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the board having a catch on its forward edge,of the doubled elastic bands secured to the rear edge of the board, thecross-bar having loops through which the elastics pass at their forwardends,

and the strips having sockets through which the upper halves or portionsof the elastics pass, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with a board one face .of which is covered with thefabric B and the edges of which are bound by metal strips 0 G,

of graduated strips D D, hooks E E, elastic bands M, strips N, bar P,and catch F, substantially as described.

JOHN P. CALDWELL.

\Vitnesses:

H. J. BRANDON, E.- S. WILEY.

